There is usually a shock absorber disposed in a vibrating absorber or a damper that is installed in vehicles, transportations or buildings, for absorbing/dissipating the kinematic energy resulted from vibrations or quakes and maintaining safety and comfort for people on/in the vehicles, transportations or buildings. A shock absorber typically consists of mechanical viscous dampers and elastic elements. The state of the art already provides abundant techniques that well utilize the kinematic energy sourced from the compressions and relaxations of the spring or the elastic elements.
For instances, the Taiwan Utility Model Pat. No. M284604 discloses an electric generating apparatus with a shock absorber, which utilizes the gravitational energy sourced from the displacements of the absorber to drive a series of gears. However, the mentioned electric generating apparatus is only capable to retrieve the energy sourced during the compressing phase of the spring, but fails to retrieve the energy during the expanding period of the spring. The published US Patent Application No. 2007/0089919 discloses an apparatus and a method for converting the relative movements occurring between a vehicle and wheels thereof into electricity for recharging a battery of the vehicle. The apparatus includes a generator provided on the vehicle, a linear-to-rotary motion converter connected between the vehicle and the wheels thereof and a rotor connected to a electric machine of the generator. Reciprocating movements of the wheel relative to the vehicle body are converted by the motion converter to drive the rotor activating the electric machine which can produce electricity for recharging the battery of the vehicle. However, the rotations of the rotor are unstable since the reciprocating movements of the wheel are essentially a random-based motion, which causes the electrical current unstable and reduces the life for the battery.
Although currently there are many kinds of shock absorbers that are developed for utilizing/collecting the energy generated during the reciprocating movements of the elastic element. However, the issues regarding the low efficiency of energy retrieving and unstable electrical current are urged to be resolved or improved. Therefore, in view of the drawbacks in the prior art, a novel shock absorber is thus provided.